Harsh Unhaul

Spring is in the air and I’ve caught the cleaning bug- which means I’ve been going through my bookshelves (and endless boxes) hunting for anything and everything I can rehome. I might even be going a little overboard this time, cos these aren’t necessarily books I disliked- in fact I liked a lot of them- I just can’t see myself reading them again. So, time for the HARDCORE UNHAUL!

Let’s start with City of Heavenly Fire, because that very much comes into the category of “liked at the time I read it, but meh, I’m over it”. While I have fond memories of this book, I’ve sadly outgrown Clare’s books and where I might once have felt the need to reread one of these series, I don’t see that happening (especially after I’ve read so many incarnations of the same story in her other works). Plus, I only ever had the last one in physical form, which looks super out of place with all my other books.

The Falling Kingdoms series is next to be dropped (oof bad pun, sorry about that 😉 ). As much as I once liked this series, I sadly fell out of love with it and now I don’t see the need to hold onto the books (which I had an incomplete collection of anyway).

Pandemonium I’ve kept for a really long time, because I really LOVED this series. Still love it if I’m honest. But that doesn’t mean I want to keep hold of this stray middle-book-in-the-series when I don’t own the others and won’t reread it. I can recommend this series if you want a good YA dystopia and like Lauren Oliver as much as I do!

The Darkest Minds on the other hand sadly didn’t enamour me. It’s not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination- and in fairness my sister read and enjoyed the whole series- but for me it was too similar to Shatter Me and a few other dystopias to really stand out from the crowd. So this one I feel the most confident getting rid of.

On the other hand, I did quite like Incarnate and feel sad letting go of because *WOW THAT COVER*. I might still save it from the unhaul pile at the last minute. Plus, I did like this and think Meadows is a great writer. Still, I didn’t like it enough to continue with the series though and it keeps ending up on my pile of books I don’t want to keep… before I recognise it cos pretty cover is pretty… Moving on…

Lastly, I have this big pile of the Remnant Chronicles. I bought this second hand and was never sure I was going to keep hold of it- and when it failed to *wow* me (review to come) I knew I’d be saying bye bye to this little collection. Don’t let my photo fool you either- there’s not much magic in this series. Perhaps a controversial opinion for such a popular series, but what the heck, you’ll hear more about it when I get to the review anyway.

That was probably the most positive unhaul posts I’ll ever do! Have any of you unhauled anything recently? And have you ever parted with books you still liked but didn’t have room for? Let’s *let it go* in the comments!

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58 thoughts on “Harsh Unhaul”

Wow! Unhauls are mostly great and good for the soul. So good on you! Also, I haven’t read any of the books if I remember correctly so I don’t even know whether to feel sad about them. *confused soul is confused*

You are getting rid of several books that I would actually like to add to my collection. I’ve never done an unhaul but I think once me and my husband get our own place again I might try to unhaul some books that I didn’t like.

Unhauls are a sign of maturity. Only children and immature people want to own EVERYTHING. And when space becomes a real limitation, then unhauls show that you are mature enough to deal with the necessary things before the “fun” things.

Oh, and if anyone doesn’t like pineapple icecream, they’re immature too. Because I said so! 😉

Thank you! Yeah I’m personally really limited on space, so I have to prioritise a little.

hahaha well I guess I’m not that mature, cos I can’t say I’d choose to eat pineapple icecream 😉 (not that I’m adverse to pineapples- I just think that vanilla/chocolate topped with bananas is the way to go- now you’ll have to excuse me, I’m off to make that!)

The thing with novels is that you rarely read them again. As much as I like paper copies, the only paper copies in my library are either non-fiction or figure in the top 100 of the canon of the world literature. I do my recreational reading on my kindl. Good for my bookshelf, the environment, my wallet and easy to travel with.

I recently reconnected with a friend who live a few hours from me. She loves books as much as I do but doesnt have money to buy any. I just started putting my books away after being in storage for TWO years. I’ve been pulling books out that I’ve read or have on my tablet and sending her a box every week!💙

I am impressed with your determination, although I don’t really have paper copies anymore, I still can’t get rid of the ones that I do have. I haven’t re-read them! Why do I keep them?!? Favourite books on my Kindle I do re-read though.

Oooh, unhauling sounds like a great idea! I’m probably terrible at it because it’s so hard for me to let go of stuff! I did let go of one book at a shelf-exchange recently, but mostly because it was a DNF and I had no intention of ever finishing it.

I NEED to do another unhaul on my shelf soon but I also really want another shelf! In my defense, I only have 1 bookshelf right now so I feel like it’s still socially acceptably to add another shelf instead of clearing everything out haha.

I unhauled a lot of TBR books recently. I will be giving them to people as gifts, but I really needed to trim it down. I’m trying to decrease my TBR to around 20 books before going to uni next year, so I wanted to get rid of some of the books I know I probably won’t ever get to.

I actually have been deciding whether or not to unhaul my copy of the Darkest Minds as well! I keep telling myself that I might pick it up some time in the future, but I think I’m just lying to myself. Lol! I don’t have too much interest in reading the Remnant chronicles either, even though I own all the e-books! Great post!

Apart from authors I hoard (Dunnett, Pratchett, Rankin…) I take books to our open U3A meetings once I’ve read them. Unfortunately, I tend to pick up another three for every one I leave there, so I’m not reducing my pile.

I’ll be the first to admit, I have a problem. I tend to hoard books and not in a good way. Good being, beautifully displayed on a shelf in a tiny nook in my home by the fireplace, a big comfy chair, a cup of coffee steaming on the side table… Yea no its more like a freaking disaster. They are under the bed in every closet, nightstand, dresser, I found one under the couch yesterday on tables thrown around the downstairs living room with post it notes stuck everywhere because I hate dog earing corners.. Yea its not pretty. I keep books I don’t like, books I’m never going to read.. Its pretty bad. This post of your has actually inspired me to get a hold of my madness and make a trip to the good will.. Spread some love to some other people! Thanks so much!

hehe I can understand that lol- for all I do posts like this, I have so many books crammed everywhere, so I definitely relate to a lot of this. hahaha! That’s so funny! I’m glad it’s inspired you though. Absolutely! Thanks for reading and for your comment!

Since I just bought about 25 books this weekend at the local library book sale, I am seriously considering an unhaul to make some room. Right now the books are camping out in the trunk of my car because I think my fiancé will kill me if he sees all the bags.

Last year in preperation for moving to Milou in the Netherlands from South Africa, I ended up basically giving a series of books to a friend that I knew was into the same books as I was. It was hard, but I cannot say I regretted it. The only thing i do regret is that these books were read before my blog started. I wouldve liked to review them on here still. But if I do want to, the books should be easy to find over here now…

Cleaning out from time to time is so important. I like how it shows you how your tastes have grown and changed – like you said, one time Cassandra Clare was your thing but she isn’t any more and so you’re ready to let her go. This is the approach we have to have, otherwise we just wind up drowning in stuff!

I have to say though, for me, book clearing is really a two-step process. I bag them up and feel good about it and then they sit by my front door for months as I continually forget to take them to the charity shop….

I loved that you shared which books you unhauled! Cleaning out your shelves is super important (plus you can make room for more books that you might like) I think I should also unhaul my copy of The Darkest Minds. It wasn’t my favorite read because like you said it felt too similar to many other dystopian. Can I also just say that I love that you added that photo of Elsa at the end too??

I enjoy book unhauls way more than hauls (I don’t know, it makes me feel strangely refreshed haha), so I love this! I haven’t read Clare’s books or the Falling Kingdom series as I’ve similarly heard you fall out of love with them as you get along. But I may have to add Pandemonium to my TBR? I’m always on the hunt for good middle-grade books. 😉 Fantastic post! ❤

I’ve started unhauling my books to make way for more books :). Usually I give them to charity but my husband has started selling them instead and we are making a nice little profit. I like thinking that the books will find a better home with someone who will appreciate them more.